User`s guide
Publishing on Kindle: Guidelines for Publishers
3.1.3 Text Guideline #3: Formatting Paragraphs
KindleGen automatically indents the first line of every paragraph by default. To change this behavior, use
the text-indent style on the <p> tag. For example:
• <p style="text-indent:0"> - no indentation of the first line
• <p style="text-indent:10%"> - positive indent, 10% of the width of the page
• <p style="text-indent:5em"> - positive indent, 5 em
To change the space before each paragraph, use the margin-top style on the <p> tag.
3.1.4 Text Guideline #4: Other Encodings Are Supported
The source of a Kindle book can be encoded in many different ways. All encodings are supported,
provided that:
• The encoding of the HTML files is clearly stated in the HTML; and
• The computer used for compiling the sources supports the encoding and knows how to convert it
to UNICODE.
Amazon recommends specifying the encoding of the HTML files in the HTML itself by using the <meta>
tag in the <head> section.
Example
<html>
<head>
…
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-
8859-1">
…
3.1.5 Text Guideline #5: Spaces and Unicode Characters
The only supported spaces are the normal space, the non-breakable space ( ) and the zero-width
non-joiner (‌). Use of any other space can break the selection, dictionary lookup, and line-wrap
algorithms.
Do NOT use Unicode format characters, as they may cause problems.
3.1.6 Text Guideline #6: Monospaced Font Is Supported
Kindle uses a default font for content if none is specified; it also supports a monospaced font.
Kindle uses the monospaced font to render content in the following tags: <pre>, <code>, <samp>,
<kbd>, <tt>, <font face="courier">, <font face="monospace">.
With the exception of <pre>, the tags listed above do not change the text alignment. If the content in
these tags should be left-aligned, wrap the tags listed above in a <div> styled with CSS using text-
align:left.
Publishers can include their own font for their content. Amazon has a quality assurance process to ensure
that these fonts display well on e Ink-based devices and do not impair the reading experience. Do not
include the Charis font; it is replaced with a higher quality font in the Kindle Readers.
Kindle Publishing Guidelines Amazon.com 13